a) Background of Process
Lai O. Kuku created a new concept in alternative fuels and renewable energy, and hereby tenders a Non-Provisional Utility United States patent application to the United States Patent and Trademark Office for early receipt and confirmation, and also for examination and issue of the patent. Lai O. Kuku claims rights to the claimed processes described herein, and requests United States patent protection of the processes detailed herein, construction and operation of facilities designed to utilize the overall process contained herein, and materials generated by any use of the processes and methods for which this patent application is being submitted. Emerging technologies for alternative fuel sources such as Coal to Liquids (CTL) and Biomass to Liquids (BTL) have not progressed because of the solutions required for reducing acid gases and carbon dioxide emissions. Lai Kuku has created a different concept in alternative fuels and renewable energy. The technology and process flow utilizes a combination and variation of municipal solid waste, coal, used tires and biomass as feedstock that will be converted to synthesis gas (syngas). Parts of the process includes mechanisms and equipment to be incorporated in the process flow to control/remove various acid gases including carbonyl sulfide, hydrogen sulfide, methane, hydrochloric acid, mercury and sulfur oxides, sulfur compounds, and carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide will be removed and liquefied for various industrial uses and all acid gases will be trapped as they are removed from the syngas stream. The remaining clean stream of syngas comprising of only hydrogen and carbon monoxide will be further converted providing multiple renewable energy solutions including clean electricity, substitute natural gas, and ultra clean synthetic transportation fuels. No energy plant, research and development data, or global facility exists, with any intent, or proposal that shows a complete process flow for a multiple energy solutions, utilizing the combination and variation of municipal solid waste, coal, biomass, and used tires as feedstock for clean energy output solutions. Lai O. Kuku (inventor) hereby tenders the Waste Material, Coal, Used Tires and Biomass Conversion to Alternative Energy and Synthetic Fuels Solutions System with Carbon Capture and Liquefaction (CCLS)™. Complete details of the process flow have been included in the following pages of this documentation.
b) Summary of Process
The process flow includes the conversion of municipal waste, coal, oil industry waste, lignocellulosic biomass, and used tires, with carbon capture, liquefaction and storage (CCLS), providing clean Syngas, ultra-clean Fischer-Tropsch synthetic fuels, synthetic oil/lubricants, and liquefied carbon dioxide. The process utilizes a physical acid gas removal system that uses cold methanol as a solvent to capture carbon dioxide and dissolve methane during the process. After capture, a combination of pressure and temperature regulation allows the CO2 to be liquefied, stored, and transported to facilities for industrial or commercial use such as in Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR), dry cleaning industry, food preservation, carbonation, and much more. This portion of the process removes CO2 from the fuels generated by the overall process, and produces clean syngas for use as the gas fuel for clean electricity, substitute natural gas, and ultra clean synthetic fuel, and is the summary of the Waste Material, Coal, Used Tires and Biomass Conversion to Alternative Energy and Synthetic Fuels Solutions System with Carbon Capture and Liquefaction (CCLS), producing Hydrogen, Synthetic Fuels, Oils and Lubricants, Substitute Natural Gas and Clean Electricity, protected under U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61,371,738 filed Aug. 9, 2010